


There’s No One Quite Like Grandma

by Ultra



Series: The Stars Hollow Advent Calendar 2020 [16]
Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: Christmas, Family, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Family Fluff, Gen, One Shot, References to A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens, Season/Series 01
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-16
Updated: 2020-12-16
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:20:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 608
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27992163
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: Christmas is a little different at the Gilmore Elders' house this year.
Series: The Stars Hollow Advent Calendar 2020 [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2023573
Kudos: 2





	There’s No One Quite Like Grandma

_'Verse/Timeline: canon - Season 1_  
_Date: December 2000_

When an unexpected trip to the hospital for the whole Gilmore family put paid to Emily and Richard going on any kind of vacation for the Christmas period, they had to replan their entire festive season. Usually, Lorelai would have a list of excuses as long as her arm before anybody could blink, determined she was not about to be suckered into any kind of Christmas event with her parents. This year, she actually wanted to be invited.

“So, uh, we’ll be by for Friday Night Dinner tomorrow,” she had said on one of her calls to check in on her father’s health. “I mean, that’s okay, right?”

“Oh,” Emily had sounded surprised but not entirely unhappy. “Yes, of course.”

So, on the evening of December 22nd, Lorelai and Rory went over to the house in Hartford, wearing dresses that were both festive and likely to be Gilmore Elder approved, complete with token gifts and smiles. It was still somewhat of a surprise to have the formidable Emily smiling at them when they walked in.

“Well, I have to say, you both look very nice,” she told Lorelai and Rory as she ushered them into the living room. “Look, Richard. Don’t your daughter and granddaughter look just wonderful tonight?”

“Yes, indeed.” Richard smiled from his spot on the couch.

Rory rushed over to sit by him, fawning over poor Grandpa who was suffering yet. Lorelai didn’t mind at all. She was mostly just glad to see her father looking so much more like himself, albeit he was sitting more than he usually would as the evening progressed. As for Emily, she was trying so hard to keep on smiling and Lorelai could see how tough it was for her to hold onto the charade.

In a quiet moment, when Rory and her grandfather were distracted discussing a book he had been reading during his recuperation, Lorelai spoke quietly to Emily.

“He looks good, all things considered, and you are just amazing, Mom. I don’t know if I could be this together and have Christmas all planned at the last minute like this. I don’t know, sometimes, I am just in awe of you.”

She looked startled by the compliment, maybe even like she was waiting for the punchline. Lorelai couldn’t really blame her for that. What she hadn’t realised herself was that Rory and Richard had stopped talking and heard that last thing she had said.

“I have been in awe of Emily for years now,” Richard said definitely. “And wait until you two see the dinner she has planned for you tonight. I don’t think you could ask for a better pre-Christmas feast, I’ll say that much.”

“There’s not pudding is there?” asked Rory with a gleeful grin, recalling her birthday that year, of course.

“Perhaps,” Emily told her, smiling just as wide. “Perhaps something even better. You’ll have to wait and see, but I really don’t know why you’re all in such awe. I just planned a dinner and a Christmas, as I do every year.”

“The circumstances are pretty different, Mom,” Lorelai pointed out, her hand on top of her mother’s own, “but hey, you’re Emily Gilmore, there’s nothing you can’t do.”

“Here, here,” Rory agreed, raising her soda glass up high. “To the founder of the feast, Mrs Emily Gilmore,” she said, paraphrasing _A Christmas Carol_ complete with awkward English accent that made everyone else laugh.

By the look on Emily’s face, Lorelai would have to think her mother was pleased and actually quite moved by the praise. That was a Christmas gift she well deserved.


End file.
